1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an information input device used in three-dimensional (3D) space, and more particularly, to an information input device and method and medium for inputting information in a 3D space.
2. Description of the Related Art
Most existing computer mice, such as ball mice and optical mice, are moved while being in physical contact with the plane. In a case where a three-dimensional (3D) graphical user interface (GUI) is provided, however, the conventional mouse that is moved on only a plane cannot be compatibly used with the 3D GUI.
Thus, various types of spatial input devices (a mouse, etc.) that operate in a 3D space using an inertia sensor, such as an acceleration sensor or an angular velocity sensor (or a gyroscope sensor), have been introduced, and some of them have been in common use.
However, a button click operation has still been performed using a button of an input device. Therefore, the input device is moved by a force that is applied by the user when clicking the button, and the movement of the input device causes the location of a cursor before clicking the button to be different to a location after clicking the button. Accordingly, even if the user clicks the button at a desired cursor location, the precision of pointing is significantly degraded, thus causing an input error.
Korean Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2005-077364, entitled “Method for Adjusting Pointing Position according to Click Operation in Space and Spatial Input Device therefor”, discloses a method of adjusting a pointing position using a spatial input device that includes a first unit that detects the movement of a hand and a second unit that detects the movement of a finger. The method includes detecting and outputting a hand movement signal using the first unit, setting a pointing position on a display according to the hand movement signal, waiting for a click signal generated by the second unit for a second period of time when the hand movement signal is not detected during a first period of time, outputting the click signal if the click signal is generated within the second period of time, and preventing the hand movement signal, which is generated by the first unit, from being output during the second period of time. In this case, it is necessary to prepare both an angular velocity sensor that senses the movement of a hand and an acceleration sensor that senses the movement of a finger. Thus, no recitation of technique for improving the performance of pointing in a 3D space using only an angular velocity sensor (e.g., a gyroscope sensor) has yet been proposed.